Ahoy!

We have arrived in Wichita, and today was the first day of racing for the Laser District 16 Championships. After all the training, I decided to watch the action from the water and see if our efforts had paid off. There are 25 Laser Districts in North America and each one hosts a championship regatta. District 16 encompasses Kansas and other Midwestern states. The Laser is an Olympic Class boat, and Michael is doing this event to get points on the Grand Prix circuit, which will help in qualifying for the Olympics.

For those that don’t know a lot about this world (like me two years ago), here is a brief summary of what goes on. There were 15 Laser boats and they sailed three races today. All three were different courses. Thanks to the folks at the Ninnescah Yacht Club for letting me tag along on the Judges Boat! Judges are responsible for watching the sailors to make sure no one is cheating or to judge who is correct if there is a discrepancy on the racecourse.

Tomorrow they plan to do two more races, for a total of five. The scoring is as such: the boat that crosses first gets 1 point, second gets 2 points, and so on. They add up those points for the five races and that is your final score, determining who wins the regatta.

Michael finished 4th, 5th, and 2nd in today’s racing for a total of 11 points, which was exactly where he needed to be. He is in third after the first day of racing, so we will see what tomorrow brings!

All the boats lining up for the start:


Michael and his training partner Ben rounding the weather mark:


Michael about to cross the finish line on the first race:


Some good hiking!